Construction workers at the World Trade Center site in October. A bill to provide health care to workers sickened by toxic debris during the recovery effort at Ground Zero failed a test vote in the Senate on Thursday.

The vote was 57-42, short of the 60 votes in favor needed to proceed under Senate rules.

Prior to the vote, Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer sought the two Republicans votes needed to win passage. “I beg, I plead, I implore two brave colleagues from the other side to join us. Put aside the political considerations,” Schumer said.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the bill’s defeat “a devastating indictment of Washington politics, a tragic example of partisan politics trumping patriotism.”

Some supporters of the measure are already trying to have it tacked on to the pending tax-cut legislation. The 42 Republicans in the Senate have said they will not vote for anything else until the tax package passes.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, a government-backed compensation fund provided nearly $6 billion for those injured or killed. But eligibility for that program ended in 2003, before many of the illnesses developed that advocates now say were caused by exposure to the toxic World Trade Center dust and debris.